Julia Wilson is the CEO and Founder of Wilson Global Communications USA, a strategic international public affairs and marketing communications consultancy based in Washington, D.C. She specializes in cross-cultural communications and relationship-building for business, academic and civic leaders.
After founding Wilson Global in South Africa, and living in Johannesburg during Nelson Mandela’s presidency, Wilson has worked with clientele in 13 countries, spanning four continents: Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America.
Wilson’s clients are the Who’s Who of international organizations, from Australian-owned oil giant BHP, to an influential nonprofit organization in Hong Kong, the China-United States Exchange Foundation.
Wilson is the lead facilitator of Going Global, an interactive workshop on the culture of doing business in foreign countries.
A seasoned entrepreneur, Wilson consults with business, academic, and civic leaders to enable underserved college and university students with opportunities to study abroad in China.
Since 2010, she has served as the Liaison Representative in the U.S. for the Hong-Kong based nonprofit organization, the China-United States Exchange Foundation. In that role, Wilson has built and enhanced relationships on Capitol Hill with members of the U.S House of Representatives, presidents of Historically Black Colleges & Universities, the National Urban League, the National Pan-Hellenic Council and other civic organizations in the U.S. From 2014, she collaborated with HBCUs as an international consultant to establish a 40-member HBCU – China Network, and with leading members of the U.S. Congressional Black Caucus for students from their districts and universities to participate in study programs, sponsored by the China-United States Exchange Foundation and China’s Ministry of Education.
In 2017, Wilson Global coordinated the English-Mandarin translation of Principles of Leadership, a book authored by Dr. William R. Harvey, president of Hampton University. She secured a leading book publisher in China, and participated in the book launch at the 2018 Beijing International Book Fair. Wilson oversaw the streaming of Dr. Harvey’s remarks and Lionel Richie’s endorsement video over China’s social media platforms to the audience.
Wilson earned a Bachelor of Arts degree from the University of Southern California School of Journalism in 1991, and in 2014, she graduated from the Goldman Sachs 10,000 Small Businesses at Babson College Initiative. Since 2016, she has served as a member of the Board of Advisors for the USC Center for Public Relations in the USC Annenberg School for Communication. A 2010 Fulbright Grant recipient, Wilson has lectured at leading American, European and Chinese universities, including the University of Southern California, her alma mater, Science Po University in Paris, France, and Hebei University of Science and Technology in Qinhuangdao, China.
A former television and print journalist from Los Angeles, Wilson has been published in traditional, broadcast, and digital media, including the 2019 and 2020 Relevance Report published by the USC Center for Public Relations, the Huffington Post website, “Good News Liberia” radio show, “On the Continent” TV program, and Presidency Key Brief (published and distributed in France). A Going Global podcast featuring Wilson is currently in production for international streaming.